Marriage in The Lady with the Dog Essay

The Lady with the dog by Anton Chekhov describes the social responsibility that marriage held in the turn of the century Russia. This emotional story brings to life the loveless marriages that many couples found themselves in as a result of arranged marriages. Two married people find themselves without their significant other, and they begin to fall in love. This wonderful story is about two people who find their soul mate. Marriage and love are the focal points of the story. Also, the ending is very emotional.

Society and its regulations and ideals have confined Gurov to an inescapable doom of self-pity and loveless marriage. He is a man who is incapable of exercising his freedom to find happiness. Early in his life he was held back by society and its institution of marriage. He said that he was talked into marrying in his second year at college, an example of his inability to act as he wishes. Also he was made to spend his life with a woman who he considers to be shallow, narrow minded and dowdy. The depression of being with a person who you neither love nor care about took a great toll on Gurov. The marriage put Gurov in a cage where he was unable to live his life as he wanted, therefore restricting him from living at all. While Gurov and Anna do indeed suffer from loveless marriages, their decision to commit adultery must be condemned because society's acceptance of adultery will take us down a perilous path of deceit, moral degradation and decadence. Every society adheres to the long-held view that marriage is and always will be a sacred institution. To go against this view - to commit adultery - is to suffer condemnation even to the point of alienation. Gurov and Anna know this. That is why at the end of the story they brace themselves for any eventuality.

By the way, we neglect to mention that this story was written in 1899, and both marriages in question were arranged for business purposes, something which is (as far as I know) quite unheard of in today's western society. So comparing their adultery to one that could occur today is redundant. People were married very young and often for social or economic advancement. Consequently many marriages were unhappy, and divorced after short period of time. Gurovs marriage lacked love and was more of convenience arranged for him by his parents, by a conventional society. The need to have affairs gave Gurov an exciting purpose to his conventional lifestyle. Anna as Gurov, when she was young choose to get married to a man she does not love, of the perils of the dull dead life she is choosing should go through with her arranged marriage.

However, unsure ending showing that there is far more to this story than loveless, arranged marriages and adultery and whether it is right or wrong: it delves into human nature, the subtle actions and silences of everyday life, psyche, the question of what it love and what is lust. And the greatest thing about this story is that it has a very real ending. Chekhov neither romanticizes nor does he condone adultery, he portrays it for what it is. The characters are not graced with walking off into the sunset hand-in-hand; rather they face a complicated life ahead of them where true happiness is impossible. In addition, by analyzing Gurovs and Annas fate one can see a great power of love. True love has become too late to them, and complete happiness-poetry, communication, and companionship-is impossible. Even though, love brings emotional pain to both of them, and the fact of their love brings them a degree of fulfillment not known before.

In conclusion, this emotional story brings to life the loveless marriages and arranged marriages, even if the ending is unsure. The most important, marriage is a mutual decision of two persons to commit themselves to each other for life. Love is the very foundation of marriage. But as time passes, love sometimes goes stale. Some couples want to recapture the magic of first love. If they cannot, they turn to other people to find what they need. But marriage is not based on feelings. Feelings come. Feelings go. Emotions can sometimes be misleading. It is the decision to stay together that remains, just as it is the decision to commit adultery that makes it easy. Everything starts and ends with the decision. Will over emotions. Mind is over matter.